INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY.

Evening Post, Volume XCIII, Issue 48, 24 February 1917, Page 10

INDUSTRIAL EFFICIENCY.

With a vjew of promoting the means whereby individuals in business will have a chance of learning, without delay, thoso subjects which are helpful to them in everyday life (says the Auckland Star), Mr. C. A. Wilson, a member of tho committee of the Industrial Association, has submitted the following recommendations to the association :—He suggested that to provide a body of interested men, from whom students could ba drawn, the. association should extend its membership. It should be possible by' concentrated, regular work, to enrol not only the majority of the employers, but also their chief employees—department heads, secretaries, etc. —who, in effect, constitute Hie chief motive force of the industrial; system. Having obtained the interest of a sufficient number to ensure regular attendance, he suggested that classes be formed for instruction, on the every-day subjects of business which are either not taught in school or university, or may be there presented in too cumbrous a form for tho student of business to grasp unless he is possessed of more than average concentration and time. To mention only a few subjects that come to mind, there are currency questions, the law of average, business letter-writing, advertising, psyschology as applied to business, applied efficiency, factory management, insurance, cost system, problems dealing with health, drainage, rating systems, architectural problems, exchange, economics, educational systems, housing, and land settlement. The education system had enormously increased in cost, which has presumably added greatly to its value, but so many men past school age were suffering from deficient education that undoubtedly the business community was labouring under a serious handicap, and the sooner the problem was faced the quicker we would arrive at a state of efficiency. This lack of .co-ordinated knowledge due to imperfect education for business was not only evident in New Zealand; it is an Empire problem. Only in Germany had scientific study of the great field of business been pursued consistently. ' -Members agreed that it was a subject of importance, and a Standing Committeej with Mr. Wilson ns convener, was set up to' carry it to a successfuLjssue. Mr. Wilson was further appointed honorary organiser for the association, and was accorded a vote of thanks for bringing the. matter forward.